Life for Rent
by CSI Ames
Summary: Penny has never been one to stick around for long. Small Penny drabble, bits and pieces of Sheldon.


**AN: Man, I have started to notice a pattern here. Every time I have an assignment to do, I have to write a fic first. Hmmm. **

**Anyways, this isn't in my main ficlet: The PennySheldon Relationship Paradigm because this one is a Penny centric one, with only dabbles of Sheldon. It's slightly sad, but I think I'm more upset because there isn't any lovin' happening in this one. Oh well, everyone needs change every now and then. **

**Based on the song 'Life for Rent' by Dido. I don't own the song or any of Chuck Lorre's amazing characters. **

_I haven't really ever found a place that I call home  
I never stick around quite long enough to make it  
I apologize that once again I'm not in love  
But it's not as if I mind  
that your heart ain't exactly breaking_

Penny had never been one to stick around a place for too long.

She had stayed in Nebraska until she was 18 out of obligation to her family, what with impending adulthood and all that. But she had dreams of London, Paris, Prague and Rome. Anywhere that was beautiful and foreign and definitely not Omaha.

She had given Community College a go for about six months before packing that in, running away with Kurt and trying to set up home in California.

And now as she looked around the apartment that she had called home for a little over three years, she wondered if it was all worth it.

She was alone, Leonard had moved on. She was still a waitress, not getting any younger and no jobs had come her way in a long, long time. _  
_

_It's just a thought, only a thought_

But if my life is for rent and I don't lean to buy  
Well I deserve nothing more than I get  
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

_I've always thought  
that I would love to live by the sea  
To travel the world alone  
and live my life more simply  
I have no idea what's happened to that dream  
Cos there's really nothing left here to stop me _

Standing abruptly from the lounge, Penny strode to her door, ripped it open and stalked across the hall. Not pausing to knock, she let herself in. Sheldon was seated on the couch watching an old episode of Star Trek she had seen a couple times (_woah!). _

"Sheldon, I need to borrow your laptop."

"Did you lose yours in that black hole you call an apartment?" He queried, dragging his eyes from the screen.

"Har-de-har Spock Junior." Penny replied, raising an eyebrow. "I know exactly where my laptop is thank you."

"Well then, why do you need mine?" He rose from the couch with a fluid motion that didn't seem to suit his frame. _Maybe he was more praying mantis than the guys thought..._

A voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Penny?"

"Oh, um. Thanks sweetie." She took the laptop he was offering her and took it to the couch. As she switched it on and opened up an internet browser window, she became aware Sheldon was watching her. Her fingers worked quickly over the keys and when she turned to see what he was staring at, she saw him reading over her shoulder.

"Are you ok?"

"Oh yes. I'm alive and respirating. And I was able to have cereal from the low end of the fibre range this morning."

"And thanks for that mental image."

"I would have thought that would have invoked quite a disgusting mental image..."

"Sarcasm, Sheldon!" She turned her attention back to the screen.

"All righty." He mumbled. "Penny? Why are you looking for a home on the coast?"

She turned back to look at him and saw his eyes were just inches from hers. The intensity of the blue across the room was bad enough, let alone when she could see individual flecks of dark blue.

"I might be moving away. I haven't decided yet." She replied, quietly.

"But why?"

"I'm not getting anywhere in my acting dream, my job sucks, Leonard has finally moved on and I'm sick of dating stupid, moronic men."

"But why do you need to move?"

She sighed.

"Sea change." She pushed down the top of the laptop and gave it back to Sheldon. She stood and made her way to the door.

'Where are you going?"

"To get my laptop back from the repair shop."

_It's just a thought, only a thought_

But if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy  
Well I deserve nothing more than I get  
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

While my heart is a shield and I won't let it down  
While I am so afraid to fail so I won't even try  
Well how can I say I'm alive

If my life is for rent...

Later that night as Sheldon's trio of knocks on the front door alerted her that it was 8pm and therefore Halo time, she set down an application for a small apartment a couple hours drive away.

As the knocks grew increasingly more anxious and the calling of her name became more rushed, she threw open the door to a badly twitching Sheldon.

"I'm ready." She said as she stepped out the door and skipped across the hall. Just outside of 4A, she turned back to Sheldon. He was standing stiffly behind her, hands rigidly by his side.

_I'll miss you Moonpie. _


End file.
